In my case, MIDI control data will be generated from my Roland A-80 controller keyboard with various pedals connected to it, connected to the Midisport 2x2 In A, so I assign the input channel thusly:

Step 6 – Assign the output channel of the MIDI track to the Guitar Rig Plugin.This is possible because we enabled MIDI input in Step 3 above – we get an option to select the plugin as the destination for the MIDI data in the output channel list:

Step 7 – Define a controller inside the Guitar Rig plugin

Go to the Options > Controller tab in Guitar Rig, and click on “Add Controller”.

At this point, a “New Control” module appears in the Controller list in Guitar Rig.

This is going to be a somewhat random post but I want to record this before I forget what I just found out.

I was playing around with Arturia’s CS80V when the patch I was playing suddenly changed: the release time increased. Also I could see the patch had changed because an asterisk appears in the patch name.

I reset the patch by selecting it in the browser, and continued playing. Suddenly, it happened again!

This time I watched the GUI of the synth to see if I could see it happen:

Sure enough, about a minute later the patch changed sounds and something caught my eye – a slider had changed positions:

Moving the slider back restored the original sound (although of course, the patch was still “changed” as far as the environment was concerned).

OK, how to diagnose this? I’ll cut a long story short and say eventually I set a track to record MIDI data from my controller, in case something funky was entering the MIDI event stream, and played a few notes.

A short time later, I had this:

Those vertical lines are Continuous Controller (CC) events:

I was recording on Track 2 and that’s three events for Continuous Controller 83 that I can’t explain.

I need to find out why my Roland A80 master keyboard is emitting these controller events. Is this new behavior, or has it always happened?

Normally they are harmless, I guess, but the default MIDI Controller mapping for CS80v has CC# 83 mapped to this VCA envelope release time slider:

So that explains the phantom finger on the slider. The ones in RED have been set to respond to a specific CC#.

It’s easy enough to fix – we can use the MIDI Mapping feature in Arturia’s software instruments to load an “empty” controller mapping:

Now the patch remains unchanged even when I play back the track containing the controller data.

Next up, find out why the A80 is emitting those random controller values...

I have Lead and Backing vocal tracks, and I want to apply a long-tail reverb to portions of the verse and chorus phrases. (The main sustained notes provide a wash of reverb in the background, but keeping it clean and un-muddled by fricatives and fast syllables.)

In the past I have created a “VOX FX” Buss, put an instance of Sonitus Reverb on it, and directed it to feed the “VOX” main buss. Finally, I add a Send on each vocal track to feed the VOX FX, and use “Send Level” automation on each track:

This works well, and allows the automation curves to be adjusted per-track.

But what if you have more than two tracks, and per-track envelopes isn’t needed? Could there be a way to send audio to the reverb using a single automation curve? I experimented with using an Aux track, intending to add a send on each vocal track to the Aux track, then use the “Automated Send To FX Buss” trick described above.

However, I realized that I could simplify things by putting the reverb effect on the Aux track itself, and then automating the “VST Input Level” instead:

From the Edit Filter selector (displaying “Clips” by default) we can drill down into the Sonitus Reverb and select “Input” from the automation choices:

Now we can draw the automation envelope (only one is needed) to control the amount of audio from all tracks being processed by the reverb:

This gets the job done, and no need for a general purpose fx buss.

As I mentioned above, there are good reasons NOT to do it this way – but it is nice to have the option.

My Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) of choice is Cakewalk’s SONAR. In 2017, Cakewalk (formerly Twelve Tone Systems) were celebrating their 30th year in business. Over the years, the “Cakewalk” MIDI sequencer evolved to support digital audio and matured to became a very capable music production environment. Eventually the company took the name of its flagship sequencer, and the DAW continued under the “SONAR” name.

I first encountered Cakewalk Pro Audio in 1994 when my wife-to-be (long story) sent me a copy. I think it was version 5. It very quickly replaced Passport’s Master Tracks Pro * as my studio workhorse, especially after digital audio recording features were added. I’ve been a loyal, paid-up user ever since.

In 2008 the company was effectively acquired by Roland, which in 2013 subsequently sold their shares to Gibson.

In November 2017, Gibson effectively killed the company by stopping ongoing development and reducing the staff to the minimum required to keep the servers running.

We can guess that Gibson may have tried to find another owner for the company, and failed; or perhaps just decided that it was better to write it off as a loss for this financial year.

Either way, we’re not going to see any updates to the SONAR product in the foreseeable future, despite the fantasies being spun out by some on the user forum.

The company website still exists, and you can find links to “Buy SONAR” but they all eventually lead to the cease-of-business announcement and the statement that new purchases are no longer possible. Documentation and downloads of historical updates and resources are, for the moment, still available. You’d have to be an idiot to think that this will always be so, however.

So where does that leave folks like me?

Switch to another brand of DAW, immediately

Stay with SONAR for the time being

I think I’m totally in the second group. If I were to switch, it would be to PreSonus Studio One, because I already own it (I use it for the excellent Project page for mastering).

Negatives:

If you’re not happy with 2017.10, well, you’re out of luck waiting for changes.

A re-install will require access to online authentication servers (at least until a promised work-around is made available).

If you find an existing bug that doesn’t have a work-around, you’re out of luck getting it addressed.

Positives:

It’s not like SONAR is going to suddenly stop working;

No new features means no new bugs;

As far as we know, there aren’t any existing show-stopper bugs without workarounds;

Total mastery of the software is possible; current techniques won’t become obsolete;

We can finally create an up-to-date knowledge base of tips, tricks, and workarounds.

I don’t regret the time or money I’ve invested in Cakewalk SONAR up until this point. To throw up my hands and abandon it? That would be throwing away that investment. So for now, call me a happy SONAR user.

V-Vocal is a monophonic audio editing plugin developed using Roland technology, integrated into the SONAR product. It was packaged with Cakewalk SONAR from about version 5 or 6. The last version that included it was SONAR X2.

V-Vocal has been compared unfavorably to other "vocal editor" software such as the better known Melodyne or Antares Autotune, but it is actually a very capable tool when used judiciously.

V-Vocal still works in SONAR X3, although due to a change in company ownership, it is no longer part of the SONAR installation. However, if you have previous versions of SONAR installed, V-Vocal will be available. In fact, in my opinion, ironically V-Vocal works better in X3 than in any previous version of SONAR.

However, some quirks remain, and one of them is the default values used for several of the editing parameters. I'm always having to remember to adjust the FORMANT parameter in particular, every time the V-Vocal window is launched.

These default values can be changed, though, through some careful editing of an arcane .INI file. All credit for this hack goes to Tom Parker for this post on the SONAR user forum in December 2006.

I'm going to copy the instructions here for quick access, and in case the post is removed from the forum or lost in the cloud:

1. First, make a backup copy of the file C:\Program Files\Cakewalk\Shared Dxi\Vvocal\Skin\VVocal.INI

2. Then edit the original VVocal.INI file

3. Starting at line 130 you'll see a section "Display 8 ( Formant Control )". There are 3 values (on 2 lines) that need to be changed. Recommended: Change them all from 100 to 0: